Mechanism for supporting a paint roller at various angles to a handle



Aprll 1962 B. M. PITTMAN MECHANISM FOR SUPPORTING A PAINT ROLLER AT VARIOUS ANGLES TO A HANDLE Flled June 15, 1959 3,027,582 Patented Apr. 3, 1962 flee 3,027,582 MECHANISM FOR SUPPORTING A PAINT ROLLER A'I VARIOUS ANGLES TO A HANDLE Billy M. Pittman, Maricopa County, Ariz. Charles R. Kramer, P.0. Box 377, Sedona, Ariz.) Filed June 15, 1959, Ser. No. 820,410 2 Claims. (Cl. 15-144) This invention concerns roller mechanism for applying paint to the walls of rooms or the like.

More particularly the device concerns rollers held on long poles and operated by aperson grasping the pole and rolling the paint onto a wall or other surface from a distance.

One of the objects of the device is to provide a means and mechanism for attaching the roller to the pole so that the roller can be operated on a shaft extendinglongitudinally through the roller, said shaft being .at right angles to the axis of the pole handle and adjustable so that the axis of the shaft and roller may be held at an angle of 45 degrees relative to the axis of the pole when desired.

Still another object is to provide an attaching mechanism for journalling the paint roller on an axis of a bracket that may be adjusted from an angle of 90 degrees relative to the axis of the pole to an angle of 45 degrees relative to the axis of the pole together with mechanism for securely gripping the supporting mechanism in either of the two positions; said supporting means operating without the use of tools or equipment not a part of the supporting mechanism itself.

Still another object is to provide adjusting means arranged so that the angle that the paint roller axis bears to the shaft handle axis may be varied to permit the user to run the roller horizontally along the top edge of a wall, adjacent the ceiling, to apply paint thereto which cannot be applied by operating the roller with vertical strokes in the usual manner.

Still another object is to provide a mechanism for resiliently supporting a paint roller shaft on the end of a long operating handle so that it may be operated to apply paint to a wall by vertical strokes on the surface of the wall, and may be tilted at an angle less than 90 relative to the axis of the shaft so that the paint roller may be operated by using horizontal strokes while the user stands at a position away from the face of the wall and holds the handle at an angle relative to the wall.

Other objects will appear hereinafter.

I attain the foregoing objects by means of the devices, pants and combinations of parts shown in the accompanying drawing in which FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a paint roller supported on mechanism embodying a non-elected species;

FIGURE 2 is a side elevational view thereof;

FIGURE 3 is a top view thereof;

FIGURE 4 is a fragment of a portion of the roller supporting bracket taken substantially on line 44 of FIG- URE 1, and drawn on an enlarged scale;

FIGURE 5 is a side elevational view of the preferred form of my invention; and

FIGURE 6 is a side elevational view of said preferred form.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts in the several views.

In the drawings 2 indicates the pole handle in all views. Numeral 3 indicates a paint roller shown in all views. Numeral 4 indicates the supporting mechanism or bracket used to support the paint roller on the pole handle.

In the form shown in FIGURES 1 through 4 there is a stem 6 which is secured axially in the upper end 7 of the pole handle 2. This stem is confined between two plates 8 and 9 which are resiliently secured together in parallel relationship so that the stem 6 is compressed between them. In the upper end of stem 6 it is provided with a pin 10 which acts as a pivot for the upper end. The two plates 8 and 9 have the shape of a sector of a circular disk and at right angles to the stem 6 there is a roller shaft support 12 which is permanently secured between the plates 8 and 9 along the upper edges. A right angle bend 14 at the right end of the arm 15 of this bracket provides a spacer portion 16 and the second right angle bend 17 positions the shaft 18 on which the roller 3 rotates and which is parallel to arm 15. There is sufficient space between the shaft 18 andthe arm 15 to permit the roller 3 to turn freely.

To keep the stem 6 resiliently in position-against the folded edge portion 20 of the sector shaped disks 8 and 9 I provide indentions 21 in the surfaces, respectively, of plates-8 and. 9. These are positioned to hold the stem 6 securely adjacent to .the folded edge 20. This edge is formed by folding the sheet metal blank over until the plates are parallel. A holding means, from which they 1 can be sprung outward, is provided by welding or brazing the top edges of these plates into a solid edge 22 and similarly securing arm 15 to this juncture. At a point approximately mid-way between edge 22 and edge'Zt) there are two parallel indentions or creases 24 and 24a in both plates which tend to detain stem 6 at an angle of approximately 45 degrees from the axis of the pole handle 2. These indentions, shown particularly in FIGURE 4, resiliently hold stem 6 by compression between plates 8 and 9.

This structure permits the bracket 4, including the arm 15, the bends 12 and 17, the spacer 16 and the shaft 18 to be positioned not only at the degree angle, relative to the axis of pole handle 2, as shown in solid lines, but also hold it at a 45 degree angle as indicated by dotted outline 26.

In the preferred form of the device shown in FIG- URES 5 and 6, the roller 3 rotates on an axle or shaft portion 30 disposed on and forming part of a bracket 4 formed of one piece of spring metal rod 31. This is formed by two bends 32 and 33, respectively, to have a U-shaped top bracket portion. The bottom leg 35 of this bracket is then bent to form a circular spring 36 which may have two or more convolutions. From the spring the rod material depends to form the vertical stem 37 which is secured axially in the top portion of pole handle 2. A strap metal link 38 connects the bottom leg 35 of the upper bracket portion 34 by a pin 39 to a pin 40 on the stem 37. This link has a hole 41 to receive the pin 40 at its end, whereby the bracket 34 will be held with the roller shaft 30 at an angle of 90 degrees relative to the axis of handle 2. A second hole 42 will hold the shaft 30 at an angle of approximately 45 degrees relative to the axis of handle 2 as indicated by the dotted outline 43, while spring 36 is compressed somewhat.

When the bracket devices 4 hold the roller shaft 18 or 34), as the case may be, at an angle of 90 degrees relative to the axis of the handle the roller may be used to apply paint to a wall by running it with vertical strokes over the surface of a wall to be painted in the usual manner. Since, however, this leaves an unpainted strip along the top edge of the wall next to the ceiling, the angle of the axis supporting roller may be changed to the intermediate angle indicated by dotted lines 26 and 43, respectively, whereupon the roller may be laid flat against the wall while its axis extends vertically and the handle 2 extends at an angle outward from the wall. The user may then apply paint along the unpainted strip along the top edge of the wall by manipulating the roller horizontally. This applies paint to the top edge of the wall and makes it unnecessary to finish the top edge of the wall by hand brushing as is now the usual practice.

3 In the first form, above described, the plates 8 and 9 are shaped so that edge 20 and edge 22 are radii-bounding the edges of the sector shaped plates. Cross pin 10 is disposed in the corner of the plates near the apex at the junction of edges 20 and 22. The bracket 12 formed by the U-shaped bar, including the arm 15, spacer 16 and roller shaft or axle extends outward and beyond the plates 8 and 9 and step 6. The above described structure performs the same function as the U-shaped top bracket, including rod 31, and bends 32 and 33 and spring 36 shown in FIGURES and 6.

In both cases the roller 3 may be held with its axis either at right angles to the axis of the stern (and the pole handle) for ordinary painting use, and thence at a lesser angle for finishing the edges.

This device may also be used for painting window casings, where the variable angle is advantageous, and for painting the inner surfaces of cabinetswhere a roller held at 90 degrees will not reach all surfaces.

I claim:

1. Paint roller mechanism for supporting a paint roller at various angles relative to a handle, composed of a resilient metal rod having an axle for journalling said roller and disposed on a U-shaped bracket normally at right angles to a stem, a stem adapted to be inserted axially into the end of a pole handle, and a spring coil formed between said bracket and said stem to enable the axle to be resiliently positioned at various angles relative to said i stern; and a link extending angularly between said stem and said bracket and removably attached to said stem and pivotally attached to said bracket. for varying the angle between said axle and said stem.

2. Paint roller supporting mechanism consisting of a bracket made of a single piece of rod bent to provide a paint roller bearing shaft at the top, a U-shaped portion at one end of said shaft, a portion parallel to and below said shaft extending inwardly from said U shaped portion and a portion extending from said parallel portion at right angle to said shaft forming a stern, said stern including a resilient circular bend and an outwardly ex tending straight portion adapted to enter an axial hole in the end of a pole handle; a pole handle having an axial hole at one end to receive said straight portion of said stem; and a bar extending diagonally from said parallel portion to said stem, pivotally attached to said parallel portion at its upper end and adjustably attached to said stem at its lower end, and means for changing the point of attachment at the lower end of said bar to vary the angle between the bearing shaft and the stern.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,234,441 Boyden July 24, 1917 1,889,286 Kaipust Nov. 29, 1932 2,817,107 Zellinger Dec. 24, 1957 

